In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority.[1] The term "crime" does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,[2] though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes.[3] The most popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared as such by the relevant and applicable law.[2] One proposed definition is that a crime or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual but also to a community, society or the state ("a public wrong"). Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law.[1][4]

The notion that acts such as murder, rape and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide.[5] What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by criminal law of each country. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code, in some common law countries no such comprehensive statute exists.

Overview

When informal relationships and sanctions prove insufficient to establish and maintain a desired social order, a government or a state may impose more formalized or stricter systems of social control. With institutional and legal machinery at their disposal, agents of the State can compel populations to conform to codes and can opt to punish or attempt to reform those who do not conform.

Authorities employ various mechanisms to regulate (encouraging or discouraging) certain behaviors in general. Governing or administering agencies may for example codify rules into laws, police citizens and visitors to ensure that they comply with those laws, and implement other policies and practices that legislators or administrators have prescribed with the aim of discouraging or preventing crime. In addition, authorities provide remedies and sanctions, and collectively these constitute a criminal justice system. Legal sanctions vary widely in their severity; they may include (for example) incarceration of temporary character aimed at reforming the convict. Some jurisdictions have penal codes written to inflict permanent harsh punishments: legal mutilation, capital punishment or life without parole.

Usually, a natural person perpetrates a crime, but legal persons may also commit crimes. Conversely, at least under U.S. law, nonpersons such as animals cannot commit crimes.[6]

The sociologist Richard Quinney has written about the relationship between society and crime. When Quinney states "crime is a social phenomenon" he envisages both how individuals conceive crime and how populations perceive it, based on societal norms.[7]

Etymology

The word crime is derived from the Latin root cernō, meaning "I decide, I give judgment". Originally the Latin word crīmen meant "charge" or "cry of distress."[8] The Ancient Greek word krima (κρίμα), from which the Latin cognate derives, typically referred to an intellectual mistake or an offense against the community, rather than a private or moral wrong.[9]

In 13th century Englishcrime meant "sinfulness", according to etymonline.com. It was probably brought to England as Old French crimne (12th century form of Modern Frenchcrime), from Latin crimen (in the genitive case: criminis). In Latin, crimen could have signified any one of the following: "charge, indictment, accusation; crime, fault, offense".

The word may derive from the Latin cernere – "to decide, to sift" (see crisis, mapped on Kairos and Chronos). But Ernest Klein (citing Karl Brugmann) rejects this and suggests *cri-men, which originally would have meant "cry of distress". Thomas G. Tucker suggests a root in "cry" words and refers to English plaint, plaintiff, and so on. The meaning "offense punishable by law" dates from the late 14th century. The Latin word is glossed in Old English by facen, also "deceit, fraud, treachery", [cf. fake]. Crime wave is first attested in 1893 in American English.

Definition

England and Wales

Whether a given act or omission constitutes a crime does not depend on the nature of that act or omission. It depends on the nature of the legal consequences that may follow it.[10] An act or omission is a crime if it is capable of being followed by what are called criminal proceedings.[11][12]

History

The following definition of "crime" was provided by the Prevention of Crimes Act 1871, and applied[13] for the purposes of section 10 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1908:

These structural realities remain fluid and often contentious. For example: as cultures change and the political environment shifts, societies may criminalise or decriminalise certain behaviours, which directly affects the statisticalcrime rates, influence the allocation of resources for the enforcement of laws, and (re-)influence the general public opinion.

Similarly, changes in the collection and/or calculation of data on crime may affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given "crime problem". All such adjustments to crime statistics, allied with the experience of people in their everyday lives, shape attitudes on the extent to which the State should use law or social engineering to enforce or encourage any particular social norm. Behaviour can be controlled and influenced by a society in many ways without having to resort to the criminal justice system.

Indeed, in those cases where no clear consensus exists on a given norm, the drafting of criminal law by the group in power to prohibit the behaviour of another group may seem to some observers an improper limitation of the second group's freedom, and the ordinary members of society have less respect for the law or laws in general – whether the authorities actually enforce the disputed law or not.

Other definitions

Legislatures can pass laws (called mala prohibita) that define crimes against social norms. These laws vary from time to time and from place to place: note variations in gambling laws, for example, and the prohibition or encouragement of duelling in history. Other crimes, called mala in se, count as outlawed in almost all societies, (murder, theft and rape, for example).

Criminalization

The spiked heads of executed criminals once adorned the gatehouse of the medieval London Bridge.

One can view criminalization as a procedure deployed by society as a preemptive harm-reduction device, using the threat of punishment as a deterrent to anyone proposing to engage in the behavior causing harm. The State becomes involved because governing entities can become convinced that the costs of not criminalizing (through allowing the harms to continue unabated) outweigh the costs of criminalizing it (restricting individual liberty, for example, to minimize harm to others).

States control the process of criminalization because:

Even if victims recognize their own role as victims, they may not have the resources to investigate and seek legal redress for the injuries suffered: the enforcers formally appointed by the State often have better access to expertise and resources.

The victims may only want compensation for the injuries suffered, while remaining indifferent to a possible desire for deterrence.[16]

Fear of retaliation may deter victims or witnesses of crimes from taking any action. Even in policed societies, fear may inhibit from reporting incidents or from co-operating in a trial.

Victims, on their own, may lack the economies of scale that could allow them to administer a penal system, let alone to collect any fines levied by a court.[17] Garoupa & Klerman (2002) warn that a rent-seeking government has as its primary motivation to maximize revenue and so, if offenders have sufficient wealth, a rent-seeking government will act more aggressively than a social-welfare-maximizing government in enforcing laws against minor crimes (usually with a fixed penalty such as parking and routine traffic violations), but more laxly in enforcing laws against major crimes.

As a result of the crime, victims may die or become incapacitated.

Labelling theory

The label of "crime" and the accompanying social stigma normally confine their scope to those activities seen as injurious to the general population or to the State, including some that cause serious loss or damage to individuals. Those who apply the labels of "crime" or "criminal" intend to assert the hegemony of a dominant population, or to reflect a consensus of condemnation for the identified behavior and to justify any punishments prescribed by the State (in the event that standard processingtries and convicts an accused person of a crime).

Natural-law theory

Justifying the State's use of force to coerce compliance with its laws has proven a consistent theoretical problem. One of the earliest justifications involved the theory of natural law. This posits that the nature of the world or of human beings underlies the standards of morality or constructs them. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century: "the rule and measure of human acts is the reason, which is the first principle of human acts" (Aquinas, ST I-II, Q.90, A.I). He regarded people as by nature rational beings, concluding that it becomes morally appropriate that they should behave in a way that conforms to their rational nature. Thus, to be valid, any law must conform to natural law and coercing people to conform to that law is morally acceptable. In the 1760s William Blackstone (1979: 41) described the thesis:

"This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."

But John Austin (1790–1859), an early positivist, applied utilitarianism in accepting the calculating nature of human beings and the existence of an objective morality. He denied that the legal validity of a norm depends on whether its content conforms to morality. Thus in Austinian terms a moral code can objectively determine what people ought to do, the law can embody whatever norms the legislature decrees to achieve social utility, but every individual remains free to choose what to do. Similarly, Hart (1961) saw the law as an aspect of sovereignty, with lawmakers able to adopt any law as a means to a moral end.

Thus the necessary and sufficient conditions for the truth of a proposition of law simply involved internal logic and consistency, and that the state's agents used state power with responsibility. Ronald Dworkin (2005) rejects Hart's theory and proposes that all individuals should expect the equal respect and concern of those who govern them as a fundamental political right. He offers a theory of compliance overlaid by a theory of deference (the citizen's duty to obey the law) and a theory of enforcement, which identifies the legitimate goals of enforcement and punishment. Legislation must conform to a theory of legitimacy, which describes the circumstances under which a particular person or group is entitled to make law, and a theory of legislative justice, which describes the law they are entitled or obliged to make.

Indeed, despite everything, the majority[citation needed] of natural-law theorists have accepted the idea of enforcing the prevailing morality as a primary function of the law. This view entails the problem that it makes any moral criticism of the law impossible: if conformity with natural law forms a necessary condition for legal validity, all valid law must, by definition, count as morally just. Thus, on this line of reasoning, the legal validity of a norm necessarily entails its moral justice.[clarification needed]

One can solve this problem by granting some degree of moral relativism and accepting that norms may evolve over time and, therefore, one can criticize the continued enforcement of old laws in the light of the current norms. People may find such law acceptable, but the use of State power to coerce citizens to comply with that law lacks moral justification. More recent conceptions of the theory characterise crime as the violation of individual rights.

Since society considers so many rights as natural (hence the term "right") rather than man-made, what constitutes a crime also counts as natural, in contrast to laws (seen as man-made). Adam Smith illustrates this view, saying that a smuggler would be an excellent citizen, "...had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so."

Natural-law theory therefore distinguishes between "criminality" (which derives from human nature) and "illegality" (which originates with the interests of those in power). Lawyers sometimes express the two concepts with the phrases malum in se and malum prohibitum respectively. They regard a "crime malum in se" as inherently criminal; whereas a "crime malum prohibitum" (the argument goes) counts as criminal only because the law has decreed it so.

History

Some religious communities regard sin as a crime; some may even highlight the crime of sin very early in legendary or mythological accounts of origins – note the tale of Adam and Eve and the theory of original sin. What one group considers a crime may cause or ignite war or conflict. However, the earliest known civilizations had codes of law, containing both civil and penal rules mixed together, though not always in recorded form.

The Sumerians produced the earliest surviving written codes.[18]Urukagina (reigned c. 2380 BC – c. 2360 BC, short chronology) had an early code that has not survived; a later king, Ur-Nammu, left the earliest extant written law system, the Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 – c. 2050 BC), which prescribed a formal system of penalties for specific cases in 57 articles. The Sumerians later issued other codes, including the "code of Lipit-Ishtar". This code, from the 20th century BCE, contains some fifty articles, and scholars have reconstructed it by comparing several sources.

The Sumerian was deeply conscious of his personal rights and resented any encroachment on them, whether by his King, his superior, or his equal. No wonder that the Sumerians were the first to compile laws and law codes.

Successive legal codes in Babylon, including the code of Hammurabi (c. 1790 BC), reflected Mesopotamian society's belief that law derived from the will of the gods (see Babylonian law).[20]
Many states at this time functioned as theocracies, with codes of conduct largely religious in origin or reference. In the Sanskrit texts of Dharmaśāstra (c. 1250 BC), issues such as legal and religious duties, code of conduct, penalties and remedies, etc. have been discussed and forms one of the elaborate and earliest source of legal code.[21][22]

Sir Henry Maine (1861) studied the ancient codes available in his day, and failed to find any criminal law in the "modern" sense of the word. While modern systems distinguish between offences against the "State" or "community", and offences against the "individual", the so-called penal law of ancient communities did not deal with "crimes" (Latin: crimina), but with "wrongs" (Latin: delicta). Thus the Hellenic laws[23] treated all forms of theft, assault, rape, and murder as private wrongs, and left action for enforcement up to the victims or their survivors. The earliest systems seem to have lacked formal courts.

The Romans systematized law and applied their system across the Roman Empire. Again, the initial rules of Roman law regarded assaults as a matter of private compensation. The most significant Roman law concept involved dominion.[24] The pater familias owned all the family and its property (including slaves); the pater enforced matters involving interference with any property. The Commentaries of Gaius (written between 130 and 180 AD) on the Twelve Tables treated furtum (in modern parlance: "theft") as a tort.

Similarly, assault and violent robbery involved trespass as to the pater's property (so, for example, the rape of a slave could become the subject of compensation to the pater as having trespassed on his "property"), and breach of such laws created a vinculum juris (an obligation of law) that only the payment of monetary compensation (modern "damages") could discharge. Similarly, the consolidated Teutonic laws of the Germanic tribes,[25] included a complex system of monetary compensations for what courts would now[update] consider the complete[citation needed] range of criminal offences against the person, from murder down.

Even though Rome abandoned its Britannic provinces around 400 AD, the Germanic mercenaries – who had largely become instrumental in enforcing Roman rule in Britannia – acquired ownership of land there and continued to use a mixture of Roman and Teutonic Law, with much written down under the early Anglo-Saxon kings.[26] But only when a more centralized English monarchy emerged following the Norman invasion, and when the kings of England attempted to assert power over the land and its peoples, did the modern concept emerge, namely of a crime not only as an offence against the "individual", but also as a wrong against the "State".[27]

This idea came from common law, and the earliest conception of a criminal act involved events of such major significance that the "State" had to usurp the usual functions of the civil tribunals, and direct a special law or privilegium against the perpetrator. All the earliest English criminal trials involved wholly extraordinary and arbitrary courts without any settled law to apply, whereas the civil (delictual) law operated in a highly developed and consistent manner (except where a king wanted to raise money by selling a new form of writ). The development of the idea that the "State" dispenses justice in a court only emerges in parallel with or after the emergence of the concept of sovereignty.

In continental Europe, Roman law persisted, but with a stronger influence from the Christian Church.[28]
Coupled with the more diffuse political structure based on smaller feudal units, various legal traditions emerged, remaining more strongly rooted in Roman jurisprudence, but modified to meet the prevailing political climate.

In Scandinavia the effect of Roman law did not become apparent until the 17th century, and the courts grew out of the things – the assemblies of the people. The people decided the cases (usually with largest freeholders dominating). This system later gradually developed into a system with a royal judge nominating a number of the most esteemed men of the parish as his board, fulfilling the function of "the people" of yore.

From the Hellenic system onwards, the policy rationale for requiring the payment of monetary compensation for wrongs committed has involved the avoidance of feuding between clans and families.[29]
If compensation could mollify families' feelings, this would help to keep the peace. On the other hand, the institution of oaths also played down the threat of feudal warfare. Both in archaic Greece and in medievalScandinavia, an accused person walked free if he could get a sufficient number of male relatives to swear him not guilty. (Compare the United Nations Security Council, in which the veto power of the permanent members ensures that the organization does not become involved in crises where it could not enforce its decisions.)

These means of restraining private feuds did not always work, and sometimes prevented the fulfillment of justice. But in the earliest times the "state" did not always provide an independent policing force. Thus criminal law grew out of what 21st-century lawyers would call torts; and, in real terms, many acts and omissions classified as crimes actually overlap with civil-law concepts.

Categorisation by penalty

One can categorise crimes depending on the related punishment, with sentencingtariffs prescribed in line with the perceived seriousness of the offence. Thus fines and noncustodial sentences may address the crimes seen as least serious, with lengthy imprisonment or (in some jurisdictions) capital punishment reserved for the most serious.

Common law

Under the common law of England, crimes were classified as either treason, felony or misdemeanour, with treason sometimes being included with the felonies. This system was based on the perceived seriousness of the offence. It is still used in the United States but the distinction between felony and misdemeanour is abolished in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

Other classifications

U.S. classification

In the United States since 1930, the FBI has tabulated Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) annually from crime data submitted by law enforcement agencies across the United States.[45]
Officials compile this data at the city, county, and state levels into the UCR. They classify violations of laws based on common law as Part I (index) crimes in UCR data. These are further categorized as violent or property crimes. Part I violent crimes include murder and criminal homicide (voluntary manslaughter), forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery; while Part I property crimes include burglary, arson, larceny/theft, and motor-vehicle theft. All other crimes count come under Part II.

For convenience, such lists usually include infractions although, in the U.S., they may come into the sphere not of the criminal law, but rather of the civil law. Compare tortfeasance.

Reports, studies and organizations

There are several national and International organizations offering studies and statistics about global and local crime activity, such as United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United States of America Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) safety report or national reports generated by the law-enforcement authorities of EU state member reported to the Europol.

Offence in common law jurisdictions

In England and Wales, as well as in Hong Kong, the term "offence" means the same thing as, and is interchangeable with, the term "crime",[11] They are further split into:

Emotional state (both chronic and current) have a tremendous impact on individual thought processes and, as a result, can be linked to criminal activities. The positive psychology concept of Broaden and Build posits that cognitive functioning expands when an individual is in a good-feeling emotional state and contracts as emotional state declines.[46] In positive emotional states an individual is able to consider more possible solutions to problems, but in lower emotional states fewer solutions can be ascertained. The narrowed thought-action repertoires can result in the only paths perceptible to an individual being ones they would never use if they saw an alternative, but if they can't conceive of the alternatives that carry less risk they will choose one that they can see. Criminals who commit even the most horrendous of crimes, such as mass murders, did not see another solution.[47]

Religion and crime

Religious sentiment often becomes a contributory factor of crime. In the 1819 anti-Jewish riots in Frankfurt, rioters attacked Jewish businesses and destroyed property.

Different religious traditions may promote distinct norms of behaviour, and these in turn may clash or harmonise with the perceived interests of a state. Socially accepted or imposed religious morality has influenced secular jurisdictions on issues that may otherwise concern only an individual's conscience. Activities sometimes criminalized on religious grounds include (for example) alcohol consumption (prohibition), abortion and stem-cell research. In various historical and present-day societies, institutionalized religions have established systems of earthly justice that punish crimes against the divine will and against specific devotional, organizational and other rules under specific codes, such as Roman Catholic canon law.

Military jurisdictions and states of emergency

In the military sphere, authorities can prosecute both regular crimes and specific acts (such as mutiny or desertion) under martial-law codes that either supplant or extend civil codes in times of (for example) war.

Many constitutions contain provisions to curtail freedoms and criminalize otherwise tolerated behaviors under a state of emergency in the event of war, natural disaster or civil unrest. Undesired activities at such times may include assembly in the streets, violation of curfew, or possession of firearms.

Employee crime

The complexity and anonymity of computer systems may help criminal employees camouflage their operations. The victims of the most costly scams include banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies, and other large financial institutions.[48]

In the United States, it is estimated that workers are not paid at least $19 billion every year in overtime[49] and that in total $40 billion to $60 billion are lost annually due to all forms of wage theft.[50] This compares to national annual losses of $340 million due to robbery, $4.1 billion due to burglary, $5.3 billion due to larceny, and $3.8 billion due to auto theft in 2012.[51] In Singapore, as in the United States, wage theft was found to be widespread and severe. In a 2014 survey it was found that as many as one-third of low wage male foreign workers in Singapore, or about 130,000, were affected by wage theft from partial to full denial of pay.[52]

^Bakaoukas, Michael. "The conceptualisation of 'Crime' in Classical Greek Antiquity: From the ancient Greek 'crime' (krima) as an intellectual error to the christian 'crime' (crimen) as a moral sin." ERCES ( European and International research group on crime, Social Philosophy and Ethics). 2005. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-06-27.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)

1.
Assassination
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Assassination is the murder of a prominent person, often a political leader or ruler, usually for political reasons or payment. The word assassin is believed to derive from the word Hashshashin. It referred to a group of Nizari Shia Persians who worked against various Arab, founded by the Persian Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Iran from the 8th to the 14th centuries, and also controlled the castle of Masyaf in Syria. The group killed members of the Persian, Abbasid, Seljuq, the word for murder in many Romance languages is derived from this same root word. Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics and it dates back at least as far as recorded history. The Old Testament story of Judith illustrates how a woman frees the Israelites by tricking and assassinating Holofernes, a warlord of the rival Assyrians, with whom the Israelites were at war. King Joash of Judah was recorded as being assassinated by his own servants, Joab assassinated Absalom, King Davids son, chanakya wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra. His student Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies, other famous victims are Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and Roman consul Julius Caesar. Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim Shia Imams hundreds of years later, the practice was also well known in ancient China, as in Jing Kes failed assassination of Qin king Ying Zheng in 227 BC. Whilst many assassination were performed by an individual or a small group, the earliest were the sicarii in 6 A. D. who predated the Middle Eastern assassins and Japanese ninjas by centuries. In the Middle Ages, regicide was rare in Western Europe, blinding and strangling in the bathtub were the most commonly used procedures. With the Renaissance, tyrannicide—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe and this account is, however, contentious among historians, it being most commonly asserted that he died of natural causes. The myth of the Curse of King Zvonimir is based on the legend of his assassination, in 1192, Conrad of Montferrat, the de facto King of Jerusalem, was killed by an assassin. The reigns of King Przemysł II of Poland, William the Silent of the Netherlands, in Russia alone, two emperors, Paul I and his grandson Alexander II, were assassinated within 80 years. In the United Kingdom, only one Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has ever been assassinated—Spencer Perceval on May 11,1812. In the United States, within 100 years, four presidents—Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, there have been at least 20 known attempts on U. S. presidents lives. Huey Long, a Senator, was assassinated in September of 1935, the Polish Home Army conducted a regular campaign of assassinations against top Nazi German officials in occupied Poland. Adolf Hitler, meanwhile, was almost killed by his own officers, indias Father of the Nation, Mohandas K. Gandhi, was shot to death on January 30,1948, by Nathuram Godse

2.
Child abuse
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Child abuse or child maltreatment is physical, sexual, or psychological mistreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or other caregiver. Different jurisdictions have developed their own definitions of what constitutes child abuse for the purposes of removing a child from his/her family and/or prosecuting a criminal charge, definitions of what constitutes child abuse vary among professionals, and between social and cultural groups, as well as across time. The terms abuse and maltreatment are often used interchangeably in the literature, Child maltreatment can also be an umbrella term covering all forms of child abuse and child neglect. Defining child maltreatment depends on prevailing cultural values as they relate to children, child development, in general, abuse refers to acts of commission while neglect refers to acts of omission. Child maltreatment includes both acts of commission and acts of omission on the part of parents or caregivers that cause actual or threatened harm to a child. Delayed effects of abuse and neglect, especially emotional neglect. The World Health Organization distinguishes four types of maltreatment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse. Among professionals and the public, people often do not agree on what behaviors constitute physical abuse of a child. Physical abuse often does not occur in isolation, but as part of a constellation of behaviors including authoritarian control, anxiety-provoking behavior, and this includes hitting, beating, kicking, shaking, biting, strangling, scalding, burning, poisoning and suffocating. Much physical violence against children in the home is inflicted with the object of punishing, joan Durrant and Ron Ensom write that most physical abuse is physical punishment in intent, form, and effect. Overlapping definitions of abuse and physical punishment of children highlight a subtle or non-existent distinction between abuse and punishment. Multiple injuries or fractures at different stages of healing can raise suspicion of abuse, physical abuse in childhood has also been linked to homelessness in adulthood. Child sexual abuse is a form of abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation. Sexual abuse refers to the participation of a child in an act aimed toward the physical gratification or the financial profit of the person committing the act. Selling the sexual services of children may be viewed and treated as child abuse rather than simple incarceration, Children who are the victims are also at an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections due to their immature immune systems and a high potential for mucosal tears during forced sexual contact. In the United States, approximately 15% to 25% of women, in over one-third of cases, the perpetrator is also a minor. In 2014, the APA stated that, Childhood psychological abuse as harmful as sexual or physical abuse, nearly 3 million U. S. children experience some form of maltreatment annually. Psychological maltreatment is the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse, victims of emotional abuse may react by distancing themselves from the abuser, internalizing the abusive words, or fighting back by insulting the abuser

3.
Torture
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Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act, in other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. The torturer may or may not kill or injure the victim, depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible. Although torture is sanctioned by some states, it is prohibited under international law, although widely illegal and reviled there is an ongoing debate as to what exactly is and is not legally defined to be torture. It is a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Torture is also prohibited for the signatories of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, despite these findings and international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is currently in force since June 26,1987, provides a broad definition of torture. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to and this definition includes torture as part of domestic violence or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. The Rome Statute is the treaty set up the International Criminal Court. The treaty was adopted at a conference in Rome on 17 July 1998. The Rome Statute provides a simplest definition of torture regarding the prosecution of war criminals by the International Criminal Court, since 1973, Amnesty International has adopted the simplest, broadest definition of torture. Title 18 of the United States Code contains the definition of torture in 18 U. S. C, §2340, which is only applicable to persons committing or attempting to commit torture outside of the United States. The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 provides remedies to individuals who are victims of torture by persons acting in a capacity of any foreign nation. The definition is similar to the U. S. Code §2340, Torture grew into an ornate discipline, where calibrated violence served two functions, to investigate and produce confessions and to attack the body as a form of punishment. Entire populaces of towns would show up to witness an execution by torture in the public square and those who had been spared torture were commonly locked barefooted into the stocks, where children took delight in rubbing feces into their hair and mouths. The Age of Enlightenment in the world further developed the idea of universal human rights. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 marks the recognition at least nominally of a ban of torture by all UN member states

4.
Adultery
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Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. A single act of intercourse is generally sufficient to constitute adultery. Historically, many cultures have considered adultery to be a serious crime. Adultery often incurred severe punishment, usually for the woman and sometimes for the man, with penalties including capital punishment, mutilation, such punishments have gradually fallen into disfavor, especially in Western countries from the 19th century. In most Western countries, adultery itself is no longer a criminal offense, Adultery is not a ground for divorce in jurisdictions which have adopted a no-fault divorce model. In some societies and among certain religious adherents, adultery may affect the status of those involved. In countries where adultery is an offense, punishments range from fines to caning. A joint statement by the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in states that. In Muslim countries that follow Sharia law for justice, the punishment for adultery may be stoning. There are fifteen countries in which stoning is authorized as lawful punishment, though in recent times it has been carried out only in Iran. In some jurisdictions, having sexual relations with the wife or the wife of his eldest son constitutes treason. The term adultery refers to acts between a married person and someone who is not that persons spouse. It may arise in criminal law or in family law, for instance, in the United Kingdom, adultery is not a criminal offense, but is a ground for divorce, with the legal definition of adultery being physical contact with an alien and unlawful organ. Extramarital sexual acts not fitting this definition are not adultery though they may constitute unreasonable behavior, the application of the term to the act appears to arise from the idea that criminal intercourse with a married woman. Tended to adulterate the issue of an innocent husband, and to expose him to support and provide for another mans. Thus, the purity of the children of a marriage is corrupted, the term adultery, rather than extramarital sex, implies a moral condemnation of the act, as such it is usually not a neutral term because it carries an implied judgment that the act is wrong. In the traditional English common law, adultery was a felony, although the legal definition of adultery differs in nearly every legal system, the common theme is sexual relations outside of marriage, in one form or another. Traditionally, many cultures, particularly Latin American ones, had double standards regarding male and female adultery

5.
Incest
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Incest is sexual activity between family members or close relatives. The incest taboo is and has one of the most widespread of all cultural taboos. Most modern societies have laws regarding incest or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages, in societies where it is illegal, consensual adult incest is seen by some as a victimless crime. Some cultures extend the incest taboo to relatives with no consanguinity such as milk-siblings, stepsiblings, third-degree relatives on average share 12. 5% genes, and sexual relations between them is viewed differently in various cultures, from being discouraged to being socially acceptable. The children of incestuous relationships were regarded as illegitimate, and are still so regarded in some societies today, in most cases, the parents did not have the option to marry to remove that status, as incestuous marriages were, and are, normally also prohibited. A common justification for prohibiting incest is avoiding inbreeding, a collection of genetic disorders suffered by the children of parents with a genetic relationship. But inbreeding is not the basis for the incest taboo for two reasons. First, most prohibitions on incest cover affinity relationships—that is, relationships created by marriage —as well as created by adoption. And second, the incest taboo also applies to non-procreative sex—for example, some societies, such as the Balinese and some Inuit tribes, have different views about what constitutes illegal and immoral incest. However, sexual relations with a first-degree relative are almost universally forbidden, the English word incest is derived from the Latin incestus, which has a general meaning of impure, unchaste. It was introduced into Middle English, both in the generic Latin sense and in the modern sense. The derived adjective incestuous appears in the 16th century, before the Latin term came in, incest was known in Old English as sib-leger or mǣġhǣmed but in time, both words fell out of use. In ancient China, first cousins with the surnames were not permitted to marry. Several of the Egyptian Pharaohs married their siblings and had children with them. For example, Tutankhamun married his half-sister Ankhesenamun, and was himself the child of an union between Akhenaten and an unidentified sister-wife. It is now accepted that sibling marriages were widespread among all classes in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period. Numerous papyri and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister, in the sequel to Oedipus, Antigone, his four children are also punished for their parents incestuousness. Incest appears in the accepted version of the birth of Adonis

6.
Sodomy
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Sodomy is generally anal or oral sex between people or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal, but it may also mean any non-procreative sexual activity. Originally, the sodomy, which is derived from the story of Sodom. Sodomy laws in many countries criminalized these behaviors, and other disfavored sexual activities as well, in the Western world, many of these laws have been overturned or are not routinely enforced. The term is derived from the Ecclesiastical Latin peccatum Sodomiticum or sin of Sodom, Genesis tells how God wished to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Two angels are invited by Lot to take refuge with his family for the night, the men of Sodom surround Lots house and demand that he bring the messengers out so that they may know them. Lot protests that the messengers are his guests and offers the Sodomites his virgin daughters instead, then the angels strike the Sodomites blind, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. In current usage, the term is used in law. Laws prohibiting sodomy were seen frequently in past Jewish, Christian, and Islamic civilizations, but the term has little modern usage outside Africa, Islamic countries, and these laws in the United States have been challenged and have sometimes been found unconstitutional or been replaced with different legislation. Many cognates in other languages, such as French sodomie, Spanish sodomía, in modern German, the word Sodomie has no connotation of anal or oral sex and specifically refers to bestiality. The same goes for the Polish sodomia, the Norwegian word sodomi carries both senses. In Danish, sodomi is rendered as unnatural carnal knowledge with someone of the sex or with animals. In Arabic and Persian, the word for sodomy, لواط, is derived from the source as in Western culture. Its direct reference is to Lot and a literal interpretation of the word is the practice of Lot. The word sod, a noun or verb used as an insult, is derived from sodomite and it is a general-purpose insult term for anyone the speaker dislikes without specific reference to their sexual behaviour. Sod is used as slang in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth and is mildly offensive. However, in New Zealand and Australia it is not considered offensive at all, but only coarse, because it is assumed, even if incorrect. While religion and the law have had a role in the historical definition and punishment of sodomy, sodomitical texts present considerable opportunities for ambiguity. Sodomy is both a real occurrence and an imagined category, in the course of the eighteenth century, what is identifiable as sodomy often becomes identified with effeminacy, for example, or in opposition to a discourse of manliness

7.
Bribery
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Bribery is the act of giving money, goods or other forms of recompense to a recipient in exchange for an alteration of their behavior that the recipient would otherwise not alter. Gifts of money or other items of value which are available to everyone on an equivalent basis. Offering a discount or a refund to all purchasers is a rebate and is not bribery. Giving the rebate to influence them to look favorably on the utilitys rate increase applications, however. The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipients conduct, in economics, the bribe has been described as rent. Bribery in bureaucracy has been viewed as a reason for the higher cost of production of goods, one must be careful of differing social and cultural norms when examining bribery. Expectations of when a transaction is appropriate can differ from place to place. Tipping, for example, is considered bribery in some societies, in some Spanish-speaking countries, bribes are referred to as mordida. In Arab countries, bribes may be called baksheesh or shay, french-speaking countries often use the expressions dessous-de-table, pot-de-vin, or commission occulte. While the last two expressions contain inherently a negative connotation, the expression dessous-de-table can be understood as a commonly accepted business practice. In German, the term is Schmiergeld. The forms that bribery take are numerous, for example, a motorist might bribe a police officer not to issue a ticket for speeding, a citizen seeking paperwork or utility line connections might bribe a functionary for faster service. Bribery may also take the form of a commission, a profit made by an agent, in the course of his employment. Euphemisms abound for this Bribers and recipients of bribery are likewise numerous although bribers have one common denominator, Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion. The reason for this dissociation is to make the steps of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus. Besides, such a dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier since it can be difficult to prove that two parties have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. A grey area may exist when payments to smooth transactions are made, in some countries, this practice is the norm, often resulting from a developing nation not having the tax structure to pay civil servants an adequate salary. Nevertheless, most economists regard bribery as a bad thing because it encourages rent seeking behaviour, a state where bribery has become a way of life is a kleptocracy

8.
Gambling
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Gambling is the wagering of money or something of value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning money or material goods. Gambling thus requires three elements be present, consideration, chance and prize, the term gaming in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. However, this distinction is not universally observed in the English-speaking world, for instance, in the United Kingdom, the regulator of gambling activities is called the Gambling Commission. Gambling is also an international commercial activity, with the legal gambling market totaling an estimated $335 billion in 2009. In other forms, gambling can be conducted with materials which have a value, many popular games played in modern casinos originate from Europe and China. Games such as craps, baccarat, roulette, and blackjack originate from different areas of Europe, a version of keno, an ancient Chinese lottery game, is played in casinos around the world. In addition, pai gow poker, a hybrid between pai gow and poker is also played, many jurisdictions, local as well as national, either ban gambling or heavily control it by licensing the vendors. Such regulation generally leads to gambling tourism and illegal gambling in the areas where it is not allowed, there is generally legislation requiring that the odds in gaming devices are statistically random, to prevent manufacturers from making some high-payoff results impossible. Since these high-payoffs have very low probability, a bias can quite easily be missed unless the odds are checked carefully. Most jurisdictions that allow gambling require participants to be above a certain age, in some jurisdictions, the gambling age differs depending on the type of gambling. For example, in many American states one must be over 21 to enter a casino, E. g. Nonetheless, both insurance and gambling contracts are typically considered aleatory contracts under most legal systems, though they are subject to different types of regulation. Under common law, particularly English Law, a contract may not give a casino bona fide purchaser status. For case law on recovery of gambling losses where the loser had stolen the funds see Rights of owner of money as against one who won it in gambling transaction from thief. This was a plot point in a Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Singing Skirt. Religious perspectives on gambling have been mixed, ancient Hindu poems like the Gamblers Lament and the Mahabharata testify to the popularity of gambling among ancient Indians. However, the text Arthashastra recommends taxation and control of gambling, ancient Jewish authorities frowned on gambling, even disqualifying professional gamblers from testifying in court. For these social and religious reasons, most legal jurisdictions limit gambling, in at least one case, the same bishop opposing a casino has sold land to be used for its construction. Although different interpretations of law exist in the Muslim world

9.
Intellectual property
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Intellectual property refers to creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to designated owners by law. Intellectual property rights are the protections granted to the creators of IP, and include trademarks, copyright, patents, industrial design rights, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets. Artistic works including music and literature, as well as discoveries, inventions, words, phrases, symbols, the Statute of Monopolies and the British Statute of Anne are seen as the origins of patent law and copyright respectively, firmly establishing the concept of intellectual property. The first known use of the intellectual property dates to 1769. The first clear example of modern usage goes back as early as 1808, the German equivalent was used with the founding of the North German Confederation whose constitution granted legislative power over the protection of intellectual property to the confederation. According to Lemley, it was only at point that the term really began to be used in the United States. The history of patents does not begin with inventions, but rather with royal grants by Queen Elizabeth I for monopoly privileges, the evolution of patents from royal prerogative to common-law doctrine. The term can be used in an October 1845 Massachusetts Circuit Court ruling in the patent case Davoll et al. v. Brown. The statement that discoveries are. property goes back earlier, in Europe, French author A. Nion mentioned propriété intellectuelle in his Droits civils des auteurs, artistes et inventeurs, published in 1846. Until recently, the purpose of property law was to give as little protection as possible in order to encourage innovation. Historically, therefore, they were granted only when they were necessary to encourage invention, limited in time, the concepts origins can potentially be traced back further. In 500 BCE, the government of the Greek state of Sybaris offered one years patent to all who should discover any new refinement in luxury. Intellectual property rights include patents, copyright, industrial design rights, trademarks, plant variety rights, trade dress, geographical indications, a copyright gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Copyright may apply to a range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms. Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed, an industrial design right protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern, an industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. Plant breeders rights or plant variety rights are the rights to use a new variety of a plant. The variety must amongst others be novel and distinct and for registration the evaluation of propagating material of the variety is examined, a trademark is a recognizable sign, design or expression which distinguishes products or services of a particular trader from the similar products or services of other traders

10.
Murder
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A murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, in most countries, a person convicted of murder generally faces a long-term prison sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted. In many common law jurisdictions, a convicted of murder will receive a mandatory life sentence. In jurisdictions where capital punishment exists, the penalty may be imposed for such an act, however. The modern English word murder descends from the Proto-Indo-European mrtró which meant to die, the Middle English mordre is a noun from Anglo-Saxon morðor and Old French murdre. Middle English mordre is a verb from Anglo-Saxon myrdrian and the Middle English noun, the elements of common law murder are, Unlawful killing through criminal act or omission of a human by another human with malice aforethought. Killing – At common law life ended with cardiopulmonary arrest – the total, with advances in medical technology courts have adopted irreversible cessation of all brain function as marking the end of life. Сriminal act or omission – Killing can be committed by an act or an omission. of a human – This element presents the issue of life begins. At common law, a fetus was not a human being, life began when the fetus passed through the vagina and took its first breath. By another human – In early common law, suicide was considered murder, the requirement that the person killed be someone other than the perpetrator excluded suicide from the definition of murder. With malice aforethought – Originally malice aforethought carried its everyday meaning – a deliberate, Murder necessarily required that an appreciable time pass between the formation and execution of the intent to kill. The courts broadened the scope of murder by eliminating the requirement of actual premeditation and deliberation as well as true malice, all that was required for malice aforethought to exist is that the perpetrator act with one of the four states of mind that constitutes malice. The four states of mind recognized as constituting malice are, Under state of mind, intent to kill, thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon or instrument against the victim, such use authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill. In other words, intent follows the bullet, examples of deadly weapons and instruments include but are not limited to guns, knives, deadly toxins or chemicals or gases and even vehicles when intentionally used to harm one or more victims. In Australian jurisdictions, the risk must amount to a foreseen probability of death. Under state of mind, the doctrine, the felony committed must be an inherently dangerous felony, such as burglary, arson, rape. Importantly, the underlying felony cannot be a lesser included offense such as assault, as with most legal terms, the precise definition of murder varies between jurisdictions and is usually codified in some form of legislation

11.
Criminal law
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Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It regulates social conduct and proscribes whatever is threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety and it includes the punishment of people who violate these laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, the first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians, another important early code was the Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law. Only fragments of the criminal laws of Ancient Greece have survived, e. g. those of Solon. In Roman law, Gaiuss Commentaries on the Twelve Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, assault and violent robbery were analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by payment of compensation or damages. The criminal law of imperial Rome is collected in Books 47–48 of the Digest, the first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England. The development of the state dispensing justice in a court clearly emerged in the century when European countries began maintaining police services. From this point, criminal law had formalized the mechanisms for enforcement, Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential consequences or sanctions for failure to abide by its rules. Every crime is composed of criminal elements, capital punishment may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or corporal punishment may be imposed such as whipping or caning, individuals may be incarcerated in prison or jail in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life, government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest, and convicts may be required to conform to particularized guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen. Fines also may be imposed, seizing money or property from a convicted of a crime. Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the law by punishments, retribution, deterrence. Jurisdictions differ on the value to be placed on each, retribution – Criminals ought to Be Punished in some way. This is the most widely seen goal, Criminals have taken improper advantage, or inflicted unfair detriment, upon others and consequently, the criminal law will put criminals at some unpleasant disadvantage to balance the scales. People submit to the law to receive the right not to be murdered and if people contravene these laws, thus, one who murders may be executed himself

12.
Harassment
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Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that disturbs or upsets, in the legal sense, it is behaviour that appears to be disturbing or threatening. Sexual harassment refers to persistent and unwanted sexual advances, typically in the workplace, a hypothesis about the origin of the verb harasser is harace/harache, which was used in the 14th century in expressions like courre à la harache and prendre aucun par la harache. This dictionary suggests a relation of haro/hare with the old lower franconian *hara, the origin itself of harass is thought to be the old Scandinavian hârr with the Romanic suffix –as, which meant grey or dimmish horsehair. Controversial is the relation to the Arabic word for horse whose roman transliteration is faras. In those dictionaries the relationship with harassment were an interpretation of the hare as to urge/set a dog on, despite the fact that it should indicate a shout to come. The American Heritage Dictionary prudently indicates this origin only as possible, electronic harassment is the unproven belief of the use of electromagnetic waves to harass a victim. Psychologists have identified evidence of auditory hallucinations, delusional disorders, or other disorders in online communities supporting those who claim to be targeted. Landlord harassment is the creation, by a landlord or his agents. Such a strategy is often sought because it avoids costly legal expenses, landlord harassment carries specific legal penalties in some jurisdictions, but enforcement can be very difficult or even impossible in many circumstances. It is a form of cyber bullying, Harassment directs multiple repeating obscenities and derogatory comments at specific individuals focusing, for example, on the targets race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. This often occurs in chat rooms, through newsgroups, and by sending hate e-mail to interested parties. This may also include stealing photos of the victim and their families, doctoring these photos in offensive ways, power harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often occurring in the environment of a workplace including hospitals, schools and universities. It includes a range of behavior from mild irritation and annoyances to serious abuses which can even involve forced activity beyond the boundaries of the job description, power harassment is considered a form of illegal discrimination and is a form of political and psychological abuse, and bullying. This is humiliating, intimidating or abusive behaviour which is difficult to detect. This characteristically lowers a person’s self-esteem or causes one torment and this can take the form of verbal comments, engineered episodes of intimidation, aggressive actions or repeated gestures. Falling into this category is workplace harassment by individuals or groups mobbing, community-based psychological harassment, meanwhile, is stalking by a group against an individual using repeated distractions that the individual is sensitized to. The targeting of an individual because of their race or ethnicity, the harassment may include words, deeds, and actions that are specifically designed to make the target feel degraded due to their race or ethnicity

Notice to passengers posted behind bus driver, in Hebrew: "Every passenger may take any seat they choose (excepting places marked for disabled persons); harassing a passenger in this regard may be a criminal offence".